A round-up of today's other stories in brief
NY strikers threatened with jail
NEW YORK - The leaders of the union behind New York's crippling mass transit strike could face jail, a judge warned yesterday as commuters were forced to improvise for a second day to get to work.
The day after a court slapped $1 million a day in fines on the striking union, a judge ordered union lawyers to bring Transit Workers' Union Local 100 leader Roger Toussaint and other top officials to court today, warning that jail was a "distinct possibility".
The bus and subway strike by some 34,000 transit workers is New York's first for 25 years. Staff walked out on Tuesday after talks on pay, health care and pensions broke down. Two local tabloids showed little sympathy for the strikers. "Mad As Hell", the Daily News screamed on its front page. The New York Post had this message for strikers: "You Rats."- (Reuters)
Soccer star concedes defeat
MONROVIA - Liberian soccer star George Weah is dropping a legal challenge to ex-World Bank economist Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's victory in last month's presidential vote, the former AC Milan striker said yesterday.
He stopped short of explicitly recognising her victory but made clear he and his CDC party were backing away from formally contesting the election result, which has been endorsed by international observers and foreign governments. - (Reuters)
'Frank' European talks with Iran
VIENNA - European powers reopened talks with Iran yesterday about concerns that it is secretly trying to make atomic bombs and said the dialogue would resume in January, halting a spiral into confrontation.
But France said the exploratory talks had been "open and frank", diplomatic language for sharp disagreement, suggesting Iran had stuck to its resolve to enrich uranium. The EU, backed by Washington, is demanding that Iran accept incentives to give up enrichment, which can yield material for nuclear weapons. - (Reuters)
Austrian tourists held in Yemen
SANAA - Two Austrian tourists were kidnapped in Yemen yesterday, a source close to the government said. Mediation efforts have already started to free the tourists. Security forces have sealed off the area where they are believed to be held, the source said.
Tribal sources said the kidnappers had taken the tourists hostage to pressure the government into releasing members from the kidnappers' tribe who are in jail on criminal charges.
Armed tribal groups in Yemen, a poor country at the tip of the Arabian peninsula where central government control is weak, often seize tourists. They are usually freed unharmed after talks. - (Reuters)
Colombia peace talks progress
HAVANA - Colombia and its second-largest guerrilla group moved a step closer to negotiating the end of a 41-year uprising yesterday by agreeing to work on an agenda for peace talks in Cuba next month.
Leaders of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and negotiators from President Alvaro Uribe's government ended five days of what they termed "cordial and frank" exploratory talks on an optimistic note. - (Reuters)
Berlusconi closing gap on Prodi
ROME - Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is closing the gap on opposition leader Romano Prodi in the run-up to an April general election, according to an opinion poll released on yesterday.
It put Mr Berlusconi's centre-right coalition as few as 1.5 percentage points behind the centre-left. - (Reuters)